Transcript
Speaker: Hey, there we go. we
Speaker: Well, that was a bit of fun.
Speaker: Good times with technology. Sorry to get down there. Oh, yeah. It's all good. But to everyone out there, welcome back to The Average. Tonight, we are stepping right back into the arena for part two of Martial Arts May.
Speaker: That's right. Two weeks ago, we climbed 15 floors of pure hell with the raid joined by our friends at the Horror Heads podcast. And tonight we are keeping the same bone snapping energy alive as we travel to Thailand for the 2003 film that launched a global phenomenon, Ong Bak the Thai Warrior.
Speaker: This is the movie that introduced the world to the absolute machine that is Tony Jaa. No wires, no CGI, just draw-dropping Muybaran choreography and practical stunts that look like they genuinely hurt the film.
Speaker: We're going to be breaking down the madness of these underground fight clubs, the legendary Tuk Tuk chases, and how this film completely revolutionized action cinema in the early two thousand s We'll also be diving into Jaws' unbelievable ah ah unbelievable athleticism and why those flying elbows still hit just as hard over 20 years later.
Speaker: But as always, the final verdict belongs to you. The chat live chat's wide open, so get in there and give us your hottest takes in real time. Don't forget the to hit the like in the bio to access the official average scorecard, the link, not the like, to hit the to get the official average scorecard. Submit your ratings across our nine categories before or during the stream because we'll be reading your scores live on the air to lock in the final average.
Speaker: No safety nets, no stunt doubles. Let's get to the action. yeah. All right, Jonathan, why don't you kick off each category while we go? This was Martial Arts May was your picks.
Speaker: So I want to hear you gush first. And then I had a few more Tim picks with this film than I did The Raid. Oh, okay. I did. I still, I still, I can preface this. I still enjoyed this film. I didn't think it was as well made as the raid was.
Speaker: That's fair. i mean, I certainly have my qualms with certain small things in it too, but we'll get to that as we go. yeah But yeah, so to kick us off, we'll start with the story and the plot. How unique, compelling and original is the story you just watched?
Speaker: So for me, it when this first came out in 2003 and I saw this, I was just like, oh my God, this is like one of the most incredible things i've ever seen. And I'd already seen a lot of different martial arts films with different kinds of stories and plots. But for this one,
Speaker: really diving into Thai culture and what's really important in these small villages out in the middle of nowhere in this large country on the other side of the world. you know, you've got this small village, Ban Nong Prudu village.
Speaker: um Not a very big place out in a very dry area. um Very poor, just a kind of low economic kind of situation out there. And It's very important their faith with their village deity, Ong Bak, the statue.
Speaker: The story, you know, the movie opens up. You've got this amazing shot of all these dudes all painted down in mud. thing you know, they're all scrambling to get up this banyan tree to get this this cloth at the top to determine this winner who to find out who's going to present the ceremonial robes for their village deity, for Ong Bak.
Speaker: And that's when we first come across Ting, who is just this amazing, amazing athlete. And all these dudes look like they're in pretty good shape and they're all really getting their way up this tree, really throwing each other, kicking each other off, all kinds of crazy shit. And Ting comes out victorious.
Speaker: um And it during this whole situation where they're having their festival to present these robes, a guy shows up from the city who's wanting to talk to their village elder about an amulet.
Speaker: um that is worth quite a bit of money and wants to buy it off him and the village elder said you just wanted to show it to him and decides he's not going to sell it and that pisses off this guy from the city don ah who's our first bad guy of the story so in retaliation don and his thugs decide to steal the head of o bach and run away to the city with it. And then the villagers are like, oh my God, what are we going to do?
Speaker: You don't see a lot of stories like this where people are stealing the heads of deities from little country towns, you know? So that was kind of a whole new concept for me. And then the craziness that ensues from there when Ting volunteers to go and recover the head for the village.
Speaker: ah Ting himself is like a young monk in training who's training in Muay Thai and seems like the best choice to go after this. And the village elder says, hey, my son's in the city. Meet up with him. Maybe he can help you out.
Speaker: So Ting goes, finds him. Dude, just go his name's Humlay, but he's going by George as his city name and is really deep into some scams and gambling and, you know, just you really seedy shit. Yeah. yeah Yeah. he George is basically garbage. Yes. But him and his is young female counterpart who run other scams ah kind of help Ting in recovering the statue's head, although having to go through a multitude of BS as they they get around to it eventually by the end of the film.
Speaker: Lots of ass beating, lots of realizations for for George, um and Ting still holding true to his principles as best he can to recover the head of the statue.
Speaker: um i mean i just think it this is a great story. i mean They come out victorious atop but with some losses and a lot of pain, a lot of ass beatings along the way, amazing fight scenes, choreography, and just all-around badassery. and This movie, it's it's a little on the long side for a fight film, but at the same time, just the scenery, the use of environments, everything that they do, it was just pretty epic for me.
Speaker: I love this movie. So I really like, you mentioned it towards the beginning versus the raid. This one had a lot of Thai culture in it.
Speaker: And I felt like I was learning about the people as I was watching. ah Unfortunately, I thought the story was something we've seen before. It's the farm boy is called out on an adventure to go do whatever and return something for his home. It's... the Luke Skywalker story. He's called off to go do this. He's got a special ability.
Speaker: In this case, it's martial arts. In Star Wars, it was the force. He's off to hunt for something. It's the Mulan story. Something happens at home that sends Mulan out into a greater conflict. And then it's it's a classic story that's used a ton because it's a good one.
Speaker: You know, it's ah it's a good story. It's a good setup for the story. I liked, man, I liked how we brought in fight clubs a little bit into this. Just like that's not what he was going to and then Humlay happens to be involved in this fight club that is also where the dawn is where Dawn is who took the head. they That was a little bit like it didn't take him long to find Dawn at all. Just yeah hey there he is. Okay.
Speaker: But I did think the story was the classic setup of like, hey, small country boy called out to do greater things and then return home a hero. Like, I've seen that. I thought it i thought they did a good job with it, though. i'm not I'm not knocking it down terribly. I thought they did a good job with it.
Speaker: Okay, I guess I just wasn't thinking it in such simple terms. I don't know. no, I was thinking, yep, because the way you mentioned it about stealing deities' heads, I'm like, yeah, that's something I've never seen before. Never seen before, but yeah, that that's that's the way I was thinking of it and the way I saw it. I still didn't knock it terribly. i I said it was a three. I thought it was a good story.
Speaker: Okay, that's fair. Like said you I said, I wasn't thinking in its basis terms, so yeah but that's totally for me, it's a four. okay I was a big four on it. So you mentioned Humley and I have to, like, I know I said, why don't you go first? But I have to say Humley, I thought had the best arc in this movie.
Speaker: Agreed. Absolutely. So the way he, the only thing I wish that would have happened is I wish he would have died. He did. Or did he? He did. He did. Yeah. He died of his injuries at the end. Yes. You're right. Cause he was crushed under the head.
Speaker: Wasn't he? Oh, yeah, under yeah he him and the the main bad guy. Yeah, that's right. Kumquat, whatever the fuck his name was. Kumquat. ah Yeah, at the end, yeah, he yeah that the bad guy got mainly crushed by the giant Buddha head in the cave, but Humlay also was kind of caught under that as well after suffering many injuries from that main bad guy beating him with a giant hammer after already having he had his arm viciously broken and then being crushed and partially underneath the giant Buddha head, which was yeah so brutal but very sad.
Speaker: yes and i liked his arc the most because he is kind of like we said in your story intro he's kind of a piece of trash at the beginning of the film he's sent to help ting or ting is sent to find him for help and the dude just wants money he wants to use ting for money he steals money from ting he is constantly conniving and trying to figure out he doesn't want to have anything to do with his father really or go back to his village. He's done with that. That life is past him. But then as the movie goes on, he reads like letters from his father and then we see him at the end sacrificing himself to save the head, throwing himself on the head as it was about to be smashed with that hammer.
Speaker: And he throws himself on the very thing that we kind of got the impression he resented and hated. And here he is dying to protect that thing. And that's a full circle moment of him kind of returning to his roots and dying to protect the legacy and family stuff. So I wish, I didn't think Ting had much of an arc at all. He's kind of sent out. He's a badass the whole time. He does, he like, he gets his butt kicked in one fight because the guy cheated. And then...
Speaker: like that that's ting and that's fine where that's why i liked humley a little bit more because he does have that growth and that moment of redemption really at the end absolutely agreed as george the piece of shit but returning to his roots as humley he finds his redemption which is a wonderful thing sad for his father to lose him at the end but that's just how the story goes uh ting himself It's tough because trying to be that good guy and trying to not get caught up in the scam and the garbage, but still being lured into it by Humlay was rough. And still trying to be trying to maintain its principles was hard. And even when he threw the fight against the roided-out Burmese fighter, um that that was just brutal, man. That sucked, and I hated that for him.
Speaker: But he was willing to do whatever it took to recover the head of the statue. So respect for that, even if... the means weren't exactly as as pure as they could be, but he had the best intentions for it. And then still coming back to the village and still becoming a monk to kind of atone for the damages caused and like all the fighting, all the stuff that he's not supposed to do that his master didn't want him to do in the first place.
Speaker: you know I found that there was there was a good bit of redemption in that for itself, even though he kind of went down the path and almost went a bad way with it. Because all those fights, man, they really drag his ass into that shit, man. like yeah One after the other. and like Even in that first fight club scene where Big Bear goes down,
Speaker: And then he ends up fighting all these other guys and then mad dog eventually. And like the people in the crowd, not letting him leave and be like, forcing him into that shit. That's tough, man. And not wanting to lash out and beat all those other people's asses at the same time for not letting him leave and forcing him into more fights. Respect, respect, you know?
Speaker: Yeah. so it's good you know the the girl she didn't really have much going on boy she uh she was just kind of a side note yeah she just was just trying to make some money to go to school and really had nothing else going on after that uh no she was like uh the artful dodger if if that was george homely she was like the artful dodgers right hand that's it like basically she was she was there to support george as a character Yeah.
Speaker: So good for, for running the scams, but that was about it yeah but overall, but mainly because of Humbley's redemption. I think that's where I get the most for my score when it comes the character and it just, just good to see the bad guys losing, you know, dudes like, oh, you just lost me like millions in business for this stupid fucking statue head and blah, blah, blah. yeah It's like, aha, your handicap ass just got owned, bitch, you little piece of shit.
Speaker: Not to not handicap people, but the fact that like the bad guy's a handicapped guy and like, oh, we're supposed to feel sympathy for this piece of shit? Fuck no. Yeah, I kind of hated him as a villain. i and drum me He drove me crazy with his little, like... i got Yeah, it's a buzzer. Yeah, i hate that. Look out, man! He's coming right for us! I got him.
Speaker: He's coming right for us. Yeah, it drove me crazy. I will say, before I give my score, it as 2. Because i didn't think there was a lot of growth in Ting. There's no growth in Moi.
Speaker: There's not a lot of character arc going on in this movie, and that's fine. ah But I brought it up because Humlay really stood out to me. And I did not expect them to go that way with the character, with killing him off entirely, sacrificing himself.
Speaker: I thought that was a significant story arc and something that even for Ting to observe and see that transformation happen, I really liked Humlei's sacrifice there and what they did with that. So I gave it a three on the character arc.
Speaker: That's cool. So along with Humlei's situation, you know Even though he's just trying to do what he wants he needs to to get the statue, Ting still has those good moments where he jumps in and saves that one girl and the guy from getting killed in that first fight by Big Bear. yeah you know Everyone's like, please do something. Otherwise, they're going to fucking die. So he jumps in and does the answer to just save him, which is cool.
Speaker: I noticed Ting steps up anytime a woman starts getting beat in this film. anytime He'll like watch the men beat on each other, but then as soon as they hit a woman, Ting's like, all right, all right, steps in.
Speaker: yeah man oh man that's just man shit but when you start beating women that's when you really fuck up and that's when you deserve your ass stomped you know you you don't go around beating women dude i don't give a who you are what you're doing if you're defending yourself from attack cool but just you're just straight out beating women that's yeah uh and then the ting Exactly. And Ting also had so many instances where he's just getting fed up with Humlay and his bullshit and could just bail on him.
Speaker: Could just say, fuck you. Especially when all those guys from the casino are chasing them through the alleyways and everything. George is like, hey, I know what we find Don. And Ting's like, okay, fine. Fuck it. Instead of just saying, fuck you, I'll i'll go ahead and save you and bring you up and we roll out of here. you know So he had chances to to be an ass, but he did the right thing.
Speaker: And I think that's cool as well. So oh with character, i go to four. all right. That's that. That is fair. All right. So the music and sound design, this one, I'll let you go ahead.
Speaker: Yeah. So there's not really much to judge about music and sound design. So the music itself, it's, it's nothing amazing. It's, it's a lot of cultural Thai music that you get, especially like at the Burmese border when they're fighting the roid rage is Burmese bodyguard guy, you know, and the rest of us just kind of like, you know, substandard,
Speaker: local club music kind of stuff. And then like some, some basic instrumental stuff out in the villages, nothing that really stands out where we get most of our, our attention here in this category is going to be the sound design because between the fights, the breaking of things between furniture and people,
Speaker: and vehicles and explosions there's a lot going on there um especially with all the different sounds from the tuck tuck races and things getting torn apart you know seeing ting get like stomped and thrown into tables and A guy fucking ripping, fucking mad dog ripping that wire out of the wall and the shock sounds and everything. We're trying to electrocute him with it, you know, shit like that. Dude's getting, like, thrown out of windows and just being, just doing the elbow strikes and things like that. That's the majority of where we're getting sound and just general, like, ambient noise in the background from running around the city.
Speaker: You know, that's that's kind of where... It is. it this isn't It doesn't do much. It's kind of middle ground. It's serviceable, and it just kind is there to do what it needs to do as a standard part of the film.
Speaker: Yeah, I agree. i think there were a couple things that, little bit more Tim Picky on this one, in this film. I mentioned in the raid that I liked that the fight scenes weren't too loud. It wasn't exaggerated. And I felt like this movie did kind of exaggerate those punches and kicks a little bit more. They were a little bit of the...
Speaker: you know, with every punch. It's still, it wasn't terribly distracting. It wasn't terribly distracting. ah What was distracting though was the audio quality of some of the dialogue.
Speaker: Yeah. Did you watch it on Tubi? I rented it on Fandango at home. Oh, yeah. So I watched it on Tubi for free with the ads. Yeah. And with the with the English dub over.
Speaker: um I had it on DVD somewhere, but I don't know where it went. Because I've got Ong Bak 2 over here, but I don't know where my first one went. Probably lent it to somebody. Maybe could be, but the the DVD I had was originally in Thai and then you had the option for the English dub. if you go to Tubi, watch it for free, that it's all just straight English dub.
Speaker: So the version I rented was in Thai and I read the subtitles and I have to say in Thai, the dialogue was almost like it was filmed in camera.
Speaker: recorded in camera, and then the fight scenes were like the sounds were added in after. And so it's like it's like they didn't ADR the dialogue to get it all to kind of match. And there were moments that like the dialogue was really quiet, moments that it was really loud. And that was noticeable more so than the fight scenes for me. So this is where I say I'm timpicking it a little bit more.
Speaker: And i enjoyed this I enjoyed this movie, but I don't think it... like I guess it wore its budget on its sleeve. I could tell the budget was a little tighter on this film because it felt like a small budget film that they did impressive stuff with.
Speaker: And so it was the kind of audio that I would impress from a lower or expect from a lower budget film. ah I did not care for the music whatsoever.
Speaker: ah Some of it, I was the opening with the tree. i thought it was really cool. i was like, this music's pretty good. And then we didn't really get much of that. And it almost went.
Speaker: Like some of the song choices reminded me of like something Quentin Tarantino might choose for a fight scene, but not as like ironic, not as not as entertaining. It was the fight, the music during the final fight. I was like, this does not raise the stakes.
Speaker: The music is almost whimsical in nature. And I'm like, I don't feel like our heroes are about to die. And so that that's the biggest thing that I noticed.
Speaker: I didn't think the music was necessarily bad. I just felt like it was going for a little bit of that Tarantino-esque subversion with the music choices, but then it wasn't really the landing quite the way they may have hoped.
Speaker: So that' that's my my two cents on it. It was really just... the music and the dialogue that came down to it for me. I thought the fight scene sounded good. They might've been more exaggerated than I want, but I thought it worked.
Speaker: Okay. Well, if you get a chance, I recommend going back and watching it in English on Tubi, just so you can see the difference in how it sounds with the English dub over versus like the original type recording. So you didn't, you didn't have audio dropping with the English dub over the English dub sounds good.
Speaker: Yeah. It was, it was very consistent. Okay. Okay. Yeah, because the the Taiwan is not so and that that's okay. That's okay. I just got to take that into consideration. So for the music and sound design, where were you?
Speaker: I was a three. Okay. I was a two. I thought it was okay. It wasn't my favorite, not one of the high points for the film. And into so editing and special effects.
Speaker: we So, yeah, with this category, there's really not much to say in regards to special effects. you You've got your standard blood effects. Practical effects. yes Yes, very standard practical with all the blood action that you have. The only kind of, like, other special effect would be, like, Ting's, like, eye of the tiger flaming iris towards the end when he's really about to lay the hammer down on the Burmese fighter.
Speaker: um Other than that, it's it's more about the editing than anything because there's so much fast paced action and trying to sequence it all together as well um as well as the way they kind of reinforce certain stunt shots with like a second extra angle like when he's when tink's running from the the casino guys in the alley is him and humbly both running and beaten feet ah Ting just kind of does this like hands and feet first dive through a barbed wire circle, which yeah super tight. And like, it it was really close to him, like not really getting through there. i was for sure thought he was going snagged. and Like I can only imagine how many tries it took to make that work. Cause he had to have snagged himself up and cut himself more than a few times trying to do that on that barbed wire.
Speaker: And then you've got like the, the two tight panes of glass that he does the side flip through And you get the front shot of it. And then they do that secondary kind of side angle shot where you see him go through those pains in a different way.
Speaker: Stuff like that was, it was pretty amazing, but the way that they edited all those sequences together, even like the up, like stuff for coming down from like out of the fight club window from the main office up top into the ring.
Speaker: um just, man, trying to, trying to coordinate my thought here. It's okay. But I like the editing for it. yeah Okay. ah this is This is more a matter matter of personal preference when it comes down to it. I thought when they just edited the fight scenes, it looked good.
Speaker: I hated the multiple shots of the same stunt. I hated that. And i you you were describing it as liking it. That's totally fine. I was like, we got a slow motion. When they blow up the barrels at the end that Ting was hiding behind at the gas station fight... We see the barrels blow up from three different angles. And I'm just like, yeah don't need that part of it. Don't need that. Some of the stunts, I understood why we got to see them again. Like you said, the jumping through the barbed wire, i was like, holy shit, that was cool.
Speaker: But then there were others that I was like, why did I need to see that from three different angles. the It was worse during the foot chase scene.
Speaker: The foot chase scene had had cool stuff happening. But instead of just like, Hey, cool stuff is happening. It's like, did you catch that? We're going to show you again in slow motion. Look at him flip over a guy and just some flour on a table and then look at at it this way. Yes. Here's three different angles of the same scene.
Speaker: And I'm like, Oh, okay. Okay. Because it did take me a while. The first time it happened, um, I thought it was a cut. And I'm trying to remember what the first thing that happened was where I didn't realize it was the same shot again.
Speaker: It was something smaller. And i was like, is that a... Oh, it was the guy falling out of the tree. And they show it from a different angle. And i was like, two guys just fell out the same way. That's weird. And then I was like, oh, no, it's the same thing from a different angle. Well, there was a there was a few different ones with guys falling from the tree at the beginning because you've got the guy who calls falls straight down, but you only see the shortfall.
Speaker: when he hits, but then you've got the other guy from a different, from another part of the tree from higher up and you see him fall all the way down. And if you look closely, you see that the ground is tilled up and maybe some padding underneath that you can't see that he kind of falls into, but there's, there's multiple different falls on there. So yeah not quite. So you see kind of a drop and then the close ground shot of guy falling in a couple of those.
Speaker: I think it was the shot I was thinking of is we see one guy bounce off branches on his way down. oh And then it shows, we see it from the side and then it shows it from above. And i thought it was like two people falling the exact same way. And then I was like, oh no, this movie is going to show me the same thing multiple times.
Speaker: It's that's just one of the things I'm not a fan of that editing. I, kinda hate it. It doesn't, it didn't really ruin.
Speaker: A lot of the scenes for me, the the foot chase, it did get to be a bit much because it was like, hey, here's three shots of the same thing. There was a lot of it there. Three shots of the same thing again. And I was like, okay, calm down.
Speaker: ah stiff But that's that's my Tim pick on the editing. I thought most of it was fine for the editing. The other thing that I am docking the editing for, and again, I feel i feel bad doing this. And I don't know if it was the same on Tubi as it was for the version i rented, but there were some scenes that in my movie that looked like they were from a deleted version Like I was watching an extended cut because the color grading was totally different. Oh, there it would go from like the blacks would become gray and it was just one shot. Usually it first happened in the tree when we get the bright sunlight behind Ting as he's coming down and it totally washed everything out.
Speaker: And then we cut to the next scene and it looked like the rest of the movie again. And then we go, there were a couple times in the fight scenes where it would just be like a super washed out gray quick shot.
Speaker: and then we'd go back to the rest of the way the movie looked. So that kind of threw me a little bit, and that is, ah I docked the raid for having grayed out color scale the whole time, the color grade.
Speaker: And this one had like a yellow color grade the whole movie. But yeah, this is one of the this is one of my harsher scores for it, just because, like I said, I i feel the smaller budget for this film.
Speaker: And I think what they did with it is really impressive, but there were some of these things that stood out to me while I was watching it. Okay. Right on. So where were you?
Speaker: I gave it a four, mainly because of the editing and like the way they sequenced all the action. Okay. You gave it a four. I gave it a two just because you you like some of the different angles of shots, and that's totally okay. I do not. So so that brought it down for me.
Speaker: All right. Damn it, Tim. Sorry. Sorry. I told you I did enjoy this film, but I had some Tim pics about it. So the script. Go ahead and the script. So the script, um, there's, there's not like anything too special about it. I mean, I like the dialogue, know, the cutting remarks back and forth between like George and Moy, um, Ting's, you know, frustration and trying to like get Homelay on track. Like, come on, George, let's, let's, let's do this. Stop bullshitting me.
Speaker: Let's go do stuff, you know, and a lot of the dialogue with like, like behind you right now, the casino scene where Moise trying to play them for suckers while, while Humlay is doing the dealing, you know, was a good setup, you know, they worked at all very well.
Speaker: Um, It's just, I don't think there was anything incredible about it, but the, there was that part though, where Humley's on the rooftop and reading the crumpled up letter from his dad.
Speaker: And that kind of gets you a little bit, it's a little touching. And that's kind of where Humley gets us turned around, like gets to this feelings like, damn it, what am i doing? Okay. Maybe I should do something different. You know, it, it, it works out well. The rest of it's just kind of like standard bad guy dialogue with their betting and bullshit.
Speaker: You know, so there's not too much to really get into with it. And Ting himself doesn't have as much dialogue as all that. Most the dialogue is is George and the bad guys talking.
Speaker: That's true. You know, so kind of hard to give much weight when your main character doesn't really say as much as everybody else because you would expect more. i kind of kind of like him being the silent type, though. It it worked for his character.
Speaker: True. I did like it. Also, i consider his physical performance a strong part of the acting, which ill that that doesn't work as much with the script. But the physical performance is where he stood out to me. And part of me wonders if he didn't have a ton of lines because maybe he wasn't that good.
Speaker: um the But the script, I thought it it was serviceable. it served the film. ah There were a couple lines. This one is always hard for me to judge a foreign film because I do feel like things get lost in translation.
Speaker: Like yeah that happens there was a scene where the villain calls one of his henchmen a jerk. And i I was like, that that doesn't seem right to me. That feels like a ah translation that we don't exactly have to match what they mean. And jerk is our best option. And so there are things like that that made me like, I can't be too harsh on this one. ah But there were those things. um with like Humley's dad and him and those little moments that tried to bring Humley back, which I thought were pretty good. So I give it, I give us some credit, wo some credit there. The villain had some pretty,
Speaker: janky villain dialogue when he was just like, I i don't have much respect for religion. i am God. Fear me as God, whatever. i was like, man, he just jumped into that real fast. but Okay.
Speaker: I gave it a three on the script. I thought it was good. Same. You know, it it wasn't much going on with the the lines, but like George when he or Humley when he's talking to Moy and they're sitting there eating and he's like, she's like, I have an exam tomorrow. And he's like an exam.
Speaker: You never go to college. Are you screwing the teacher? And she's like ready to beat his ass. I just kind of laughed. And then you've got Big Bear at that first fight club scene where he's like, come on, fuck boy tie. And then it's like, all right, there here you go, bro. You're about to get your ass handed to you. I'll be ready to get stomped for talking shit.
Speaker: Is Big Bear the one who just gets kicked once and is down? Yeah, he he was the guy who was beaten the the guy and and the woman. Yeah. Yeah. Not the long haired one. Well, he had like kind of shoulder length, long hair. he He was the first big burly guy that was fucking woman ass. And then Ting had to step in and took him out and just did that that kind of like circular knee up in the air and boom, right to the face and dropped him. I was like, yes, that when I saw that, man, who I was like, oh, you know, this is going be good because he just like one shot at that son of a bitch so bad. Like, yeah. But
Speaker: Aside from that, script as far as script goes, though, yes, I'm i'm a three as well. All right. So the acting. I already kind of spoiled the acting with, like, this is where I consider yeah your martial arts skills are part of your acting. It's part of your physical performance on screen. so Agreed. Absolutely. Fuck yeah.
Speaker: So um take it away. but So... As far as physical performances go, as far as the acting, there is a bevy of awesomeness here. You've got so many protagonists, instigators and, and shit talkers going on.
Speaker: that there's so much to love and then hate about the bad guys as well. You know, so like the first guy, Big Bear, you know, he's one talking shit, beating on the locals, thinking that, you know, Muay Thai martial arts are bullshit when they're in fact actually pretty fucking incredible, in my opinion.
Speaker: I have a buddy of mine who studies Muay Thai and he loves it and I applaud him for it. And this guy talking shit, you know, he seems like a good fighter at the beginning, but then when Ting does that one shot, you know knee kick to the face,
Speaker: man, it's kind of hard to argue against Muay Thai in that regard because that just dropped so hard. I laughed out loud because it was such a good scene. I was like, yes.
Speaker: Does it kind of build it up? You're kind of expecting, hey, this is our first fight with Ting. We're going to see him in action. And then That's it. It's over. And Ting ting ah is a humble fighter. He's not trying to be flashy. He's not showing off for anybody.
Speaker: He's just doing the damn thing and getting it done. now But he he's he's very stern and very focused in what he's doing. So when you see what he's doing and how he's utilizing an environment when facing off against each opponent, you know it's so intense with the way he's going about it. And then the people that he's he's fighting against, each one has their own distinct fighting personality.
Speaker: um guy was I was like thinking of the guys to Shiro, the guy who has like the black Japanese high school uniform that comes on. He's all feet, you know, kicking around. He's got his weird bushy hair thing going on, you know, like terwa like I got dude is so off. I'm like, why did they think that was a good idea for this guy? But wait, whatever is whatever. It's part of the character.
Speaker: But watching these distinct fighting styles and how Ting addresses them in opposition is pretty awesome. Just like how he focused on Toshiro and his footwork and how he'd encounter with like weird little twist-around back kicks with his feet, you know trying to block his shots and everything. It's really cool.
Speaker: When he fights Mad Dog, though, at the end of that first fight club scene, though, I mean, Mad Dog... is using everything and anything he doesn't give a shit he's going wild and everyone's freaking out like oh shit it's mad dog y'all better look out so you know it's gonna get crazy and ting trying to overcome that how dudes is using everything around tables bottles the electric wire he's trying to shock him with and rage you know was pretty awesome gotta love that and then who is it else um man when he's in the temple
Speaker: at the end and he's fighting one of those workers in there the guy who's got like the you can tell it's like ah a contact lens but he's like a blind eye and he's got that freaking giant log saw yes and just like pressing it into his arms and tingles like oh and just taking the brunt of those blades the teeth of that saw and seeing the trying to act like oh that's really hurts it's painful and just that the pain expression on every fighter's face And even all of like the side bit characters of everyone that's running around the tuk-tuks, everyone in the club, everyone's reactions to everything is is it's very realistic and believable to me.
Speaker: It's not like they're just like oh, my God, look out. Oh, no. They're like, oh shit. They're like looking like they're actually scared. You know, so even the crowd work involved in the acting was pretty good, I'd say. aye I'm in agreement. I thought, ah again, because i'm I was hearing the Thai dialogue being delivered, there were a couple people that I was like, whoo, they're not very good. just because But there there was no emotion. Because i I want to feel like, hey, I can read emotion even if I can't understand the language.
Speaker: But I also don't know that for sure. You know, I never spoke Thai. I don't know what the Thai culture is as far as showing emotion. Because like the dad's letter being read to George towards the end, very flat Thai delivery, just neutral the whole time. Really? Yes. And I'm just like, I don't know if that is the custom, like the norm in Thai culture to not really have that kind of emotion like we would expect in America. So It's hard for me to judge it on those elements, but you nailed the the martial arts performances in this movie are amazing. Tony Jaws,
Speaker: as app but his ah athleticism, and i his athleticism is insane. Just insane. The jumps he's doing, the flips he's doing, and the speed and grace at which he's doing it it's amazing so i've always dreamed to be able to do that and i know it'll i'll never be that good ever yeah oh highly i always like i'd just be happy to be able to jump a fence but no ah this guy so for me it was a four on the acting because i am taking in those physical performances oh man like that s slide he just did on the truck behind you golly that was amazing oh man i think this is where we're going to get three shots of the same thing
Speaker: Yeah, it's in that part of it where running alleyways and it's all multiple shots of the same thing. But like the flips he's doing right now off the scaffolding... i Impressive. All in one shot. All one shot. One, two, three.
Speaker: Oh, man. It's like some shit you would love to see happen in Mario. you know but Oh, absolutely. Oh, we're at the end of the chase now. Okay, we're at the end of it. All right. Yep. go ahead. But yeah, as far as acting goes, I'm i'm with you. I'm a four as well. Okay.
Speaker: The direction... You go ahead on this one. Okay. The direction for me, I mentioned, i think what they did with what is clearly a small budget is impressive.
Speaker: There are a lot of really good like crane shots in this movie. like The opening shot from the tree is like from overhead, and then it comes down so slowly, almost all the way to the ground, and it's really well done. It's really good. There are other shots, even like small shots inside George's apartment, where we have overhead crane shots looking down. ah There's some in the Fight Club.
Speaker: There's a lot of good camera work in this film, and I give the director credit for that because it does help elevate some of the smaller budget moments. But the director still chose to have three different angles of the same event shown multiple times. Project Pinkow. Way to go, dude.
Speaker: That got to me a little bit, if you can't if you can't tell. I wasn't a fan of that. I wasn't a fan of that. But... There was a lot of really good work done in this. I'm trying to see what else. Has he done anything recently?
Speaker: He's got a Sagramanda coming up. ah The Protector, The Kick. I don't know much of these. Tom Yum Goon. I think that was The Protector, maybe. if That's a different name for it, I think. Okay.
Speaker: If I remember correctly. Yeah. So i he did ah he did a nice job with this movie. There were just some choices that I didn't really care for.
Speaker: Like I thought the villain was super one-dimensional. I thought the the color grading, you know, I said I didn't like that one. um there were There were just a lot of lot of little choices that he made that will stop me from loving this one a ton.
Speaker: So yeah, I have to hold that against him a little bit. Well, I would definitely recommend check out, yeah, Tom Ngung is The Protector, and then there was a sequel, Protector 2. And another film that Pratcha did is called Chocolate.
Speaker: Not Chocolat, not the that fancy film, but Chocolate from 2008. Featured a main character who was a female martial artist. um i will ah What was her name?
Speaker: think it was... yeah Janine Jija something or other but she's done some martial arts films and I think she's done some work with Tony Jaa as well and highly recommend that because that's a great martial arts film and Pratcha did a pretty good job directing that one I think so yeah definitely digging him on this one that's like as I think his first film but definitely check those two out as well I would say we're pretty good to watch I will say, so I just had to look it up, and I kept mentioning budget, and this did have, 2003, it had a $1 million budget.
Speaker: which again, it is impressive what they did with it. You do feel the budget at times, but you I almost never felt the budget during the action sequences, which is clearly where most of the budget went, you know filming in the streets, blowing things up, the tuk-tuks, all that stuff.
Speaker: Budget went there. Some of the smaller scenes are where you feel it, but it was impressive with what he pulled off. So while i didn't love the direction, i am impressed, like I said. So I give it a three. It was good.
Speaker: Okay. well um With the direction, i don't know. You kind of nailed most of it. and you know, don't have good thoughts of the time on that stuff. So I'm actually at a four on direction. Okay.
Speaker: So the it factor, the cultural significance... Yeah. So like you said, they had a budget of 1 million on this box office, 20 million. That's a pretty damn good return for such a low budget. So kick ass for them, dude, major props.
Speaker: Um, never really was much focus on Thai martial arts in martial arts action films. Um, so kind of like with the raid, bringing more focus to that style of martial arts versus in what they did with Thai Muay Thai back then in the early two thousands.
Speaker: Um, was amazing it became a huge explosion tony job blew up on the scene hence protector protector 2 you know stuff like that and other films that he's been in his side characters um on bach in particular though did so well that it has spawned multiple sequels so there's on bach 2 uh which have got you know
Speaker: Ong Bak 2, very awesome. um There's a sequel to Ong Bak 3, which is a continuance of this story, which goes back into much further back in Thai history. um Really good story on this one.
Speaker: And then now that Tony Jaa has recovered from cancer that he's been fighting for some time now, there are talks of an Ong Bak 4. which I'm super excited for to see where that goes and how that lands.
Speaker: um So I'm pretty ripped about that. But the way that it contributes to various style of Asian martial arts, other than just your standard karate, taekwondo kind of stuff, I think was was pretty awesome. And the way it gave more opportunity for ah stunt work and stunt coordinators, because usually like a lot of the major stuff you see with stuff is like the stuff you see in Jackie Chan films. Because they've always got those big cuts of like all the faux pas and all the missteps and accidents that they had and those things.
Speaker: And you know throughout the 80s and ninety s there was a lot of that. And they kind of died off for a little bit in the late 90s. And so in early 2000s, with stuff like what Tony Jaa was doing, really brought more opportunity into the film industry yeah you know on the other side of the world for martial arts stuff. And then including other...
Speaker: types of martial arts actors from different backgrounds as well so if you watch Tony jaw in the protector you've got Lateef Crowder featuring capoeira and it's a really awesome fight scene in like a small temple in Australia super rad so worth it to watch my god oh and don't want to gush too much because protector is pretty good and the fight scenes at the end are fucking awesome but yeah I think that we'll have to add them to next year's martial arts mate I'm down for that, absolutely.
Speaker: But ah yeah, I mean, the way it kind of keeps pushing martial arts and how it inspires more people to check out different styles and to kind of keep the martial arts community as a whole going, versus ah along with the film industry and stunt work as well, I think it's pretty badass.
Speaker: Yeah. So this is a movie that i knew about, i hadn't seen, but the whole franchise, I was aware of Ang Bak 123 and their existence. I saw them a lot. I heard a lot of people talking about them. It clearly, this movie clearly, like you said, established a couple of sequels and it established Tony Jaa. So I think that that in itself is where the majority of my it,
Speaker: factor comes from. I don't know exactly. because I'm not as well versed in this. I don't know how this movie directly affected other action movies, but I can see elements of stuff there. ah But yeah, I gave it a three on the it factor just because I was aware of these movies, even though they were outside of the realm of what I was watching.
Speaker: I was aware of them. I was told by a cousin at one point that I needed to watch this IP man Ip Man. Ip Man? Ip Man, yes. devly wo Definitely. I was told I didn't to watch those. There's like four Ip Man films, and those are fantastic too, man, with fucking Wing Chun.
Speaker: God, dude, definitely check those out. Yeah, almost so this movie's been recommended, so that's why I gotta give it a three on the Man factor. Okay, well, just you know, if you watch OnBak 2, they feature so many different martial arts styles in this one. like They got some old-school Greco-Roman wrestling, as well as various styles of Japanese martial arts. I think they got some Salat in there, like some French martial arts. There's so many different styles in here. It's it's a crazy fighting styles. So good.
Speaker: I do want to check out the sequels. Like I said, I enjoyed this movie, even though I'm criticizing it. i so said the story The story in two and three are connected to each other, but are vastly different okay because of the time setting and like the influence of of old school Thai royalty. What's the word?
Speaker: ah what's what's the word ah in a coup kind of that goes on, you know, trying to overtake the establishment stuff. yeah So yeah, definitely wonderful for me. It factors a four on this.
Speaker: Okay. All right. Do you want to do the how entertained or do you want me to go first? Oh, dude, for me, um i was highly entertained. you know This is always going to be one of my top films because I'm a martial arts guy myself. I'm a huge martial arts action film buff kind of guy. i love good st choreography. i love seeing people get broke the fuck down in amazing ways instead of just a standard, oh I'm going to punch you, I'm going to kick you, da-da-da-da. They really go all out with real creativity in the for fight choreography in this one.
Speaker: ah So for me, i'm i'm a nine all around on it. So I am a seven on this one. I did enjoy the film. I really appreciated it's versus the raid, which was like consistent action, a little bit of storytelling, consistent action.
Speaker: This had a nice growth and development of establishing the story and the characters and then moving into more and more action as it went. Kind of that traditional setup.
Speaker: i It wasn't as gripping as the raid was to me. Maybe if we had switched the order and done on but first and the raid second might've been a little bit different on this one, but it was a seven for me. I did enjoy the film.
Speaker: I did. And I do want to check out the sequels. Well, I would say that this was an influence for the raid in a small way. Yeah, that would be my guess. And um that's how I'm taking it. so I can see it. I can see it. So your, your total score, Jonathan, I am sitting high at a 39.
Speaker: 39 and i am at a 30, which I'm guessing puts us at about a 35, three and a half stars out of five. And like I said,
Speaker: Mine was mostly just, it's got a small budget and you can tell. And that's where most of my scores came from. It was not knocking the quality of the ah martial arts, not really knocking the quality of the script or things like that. I think what they did with what they had was impressive, but it was obvious to me that they didn't have a lot multiple times.
Speaker: So, and and that's okay for a movie that this small, that's okay. All right. no Well, you have any final words on it? ah Like said, just as a whole, check out Tony Jaa's other work. um It's very impressive. He's done some amazing stuff. He's been out of the scene for a while, and the fact that it was cancer that took him out of it for a while sucks.
Speaker: But now that he's doing better and the cancer's in remission, I'm excited to see what comes next, if they actually do Hong Bak 4. So definitely check those out. um Like I said, it's it's for free on Tubi if you want to see it, with you if you don't mind the ads, and it's in the English dub. definitely. you won't have some of the dropout in, in the sound for, for the dialogue. Um, also go check out, um, uh, Pratcha Pinkow's other work like chocolate from 2008, you know, not chocolate chocolate, you know, it's about an autistic girl. movie
Speaker: No, it's cool. It's like, it's basically about an autistic girl, whose mother used to work for a gang, but leaves because she's pregnant with her daughter, finds out her daughter's autistic. So was like, stays out away from all the gang shit, but then gets sick.
Speaker: And her, her daughter as like a teenager finds her, her book of like money that people owe her and the gang. And this other like kid from the street, like lives with them and like kind of looks after the girl and they go off on a whole tirade, trying to collect money to get met to like buy the medicine to save her mom.
Speaker: It's a great story and it gets a little more in depth with like who the father is and other gang affiliations and, you know, such a cool story, man. You know, so, so there's that on that. Okay.
Speaker: It reminds me, talking about martial arts, ah Kill Bill, The Whole Bloody Affair is out for streaming now on Peacock and announced announced for 4K release. So I missed The Whole Bloody Affair when it came to theaters this year, but I can't wait to watch the four and a half hour extended... cut of Bill as one film as Quentin already always intended for it to be. I'm thrilled about that.
Speaker: So I can't wait for release. think I'm going to go buy that when it comes out. Yeah, me too. Because I loved the first two and I need that. All right. So we were three and a half stars out of five.
Speaker: it's If you're into martial arts films, absolutely give this one a go. Check it out. I don't think this one is as accessible as The Raid. I think I could show The Raid to just about any fan of action movies, and they'd be like, hell yeah, that was awesome. I think this one has a little bit of a curve of appreciation to it, and that's okay.
Speaker: But next, we start our Summer Camp Slasher series. Oh-ho! So we'll be back in two weeks with The Burning. And then in four weeks, we will be starting the Sleepaway Camp series.
Speaker: The first three movies, i think I think there's a fourth one, but we're not there. is Yeah, we're not going there. We're going to stop at number three. But we're going into those. We have a slate of guests lined up. I think each episode has at least three guests currently. Oh, yeah. So our our summer, our summer, uh, we had summer vacation, I think a year ago, and this year we're doing summer camp slashers style.
Speaker: So stay tuned for that. Thank you for hanging out. Jonathan, last words. Keep on kicking chicken. Here we go.
Speaker: you
